Systems and methods for multi-device content recommendations

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems are disclosed herein for a media guidance application that provides content recommendations based on recent activity. For example, the media guidance application determines that the user has stopped using the first device and is using the second device. In response, the media guidance application retrieves, from memory, a length of time that the user has consumed media on the first device. The media guidance application then determines the time interval when the user was consuming media on the first device. Next, media content is determined that the user consumed on the first device during the time interval. The media guidance application then determines a characteristic of the consumed media content and recommends media content on a second device based on the characteristic.

BACKGROUND

In conventional systems, users have access to a plethora of mediacontent. With so much content available, users often require assistancein selecting content, and content providers often require assistance inselecting what content to provide to users. To aid in selecting content,systems often collect data related to what content a user watches (ordoes not watch), what devices the user watches that content on, etc. andstores this information. Despite collecting and storing vast amount ofdata on users, users often access content on multiple devices, and datacollected and stored on one device is not used when recommending contenton another device.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, systems and methods are described herein for a mediaguidance application that facilities sharing data collected on onedevice with another device to tailor recommendations of media content toa particular user. Moreover, in order to recommend content having thegreatest interest to a user at a particular time, the media guidanceapplication bases the recommendations it is providing on a second deviceon content recently consumed by the user on a first device.Specifically, the media guidance application may monitor content thatthe user recently consumed on a first device (e.g., a set-top boxconnected to a television) and may then recommend other content forconsumption to the user on a second device (e.g., smart phone) based onthe content that the user recently consumed on the first device. Forexample, just prior to a user leaving her home, the user may be watchinga news story about an approaching winter storm on a television. When theuser leaves her home, the media guidance application may determine thatthe user will likely want to continue receiving information about thestorm. Therefore, the media guidance application may search contentavailable in the user's car or on the user's smart phone for programsthat include information about the approaching winter storm. Forexample, while the media guidance application may not have access to thesame news program that the user consumed in her house, the mediaguidance application may have access to similar content. If the mediaguidance application finds content that includes information about theapproaching winter storm, the media guidance application may alert theuser that this content is available for consumption.

Furthermore, in response to receiving a user selection of the alert, themedia guidance application may provide access to the available content,additional information about the available content, or a list ofavailable programs if the available content includes multiple programs.For example, if the media guidance application can access only oneprogram with information about the approaching winter storm, in responseto the user selection of the alert, the media guidance application maytune to the program and/or provide additional information about theprogram.

In some aspects, the media guidance application may determine that auser has stopped using a first device and is using a second device. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine that a user is nolonger inputting commands into the first device and is inputtingcommands into a second device. In another example, the media guidanceapplication may detect that the user has moved from a location that isassociated with the first device to a location associated with a seconddevice. In yet another example, the media guidance application maydetermine that the user has powered off the first device and powered onthe second device in order to determine that the user has stopped usingthe first device and is using the second device.

The media guidance application may, in response to determining that theuser has stopped using the first device and is using the second device,retrieve a threshold length of time from memory. For example, the mediaguidance application may only determine what content the user recentlyconsumed on the first device. To determine only content that a userrecently consumed on a device, the media guidance application maydetermine the media content that the user consumed during a portion ofthe time that the user was consuming media content on the first deviceas opposed to the entire time that the user was consuming media contenton the first device. For example, the threshold time period mayrepresent only last ten minutes of the entire hour that the userconsumed media content on the first device.

The media guidance application may then determine a period of timebeginning at a point in time when the user began using the second deviceand extending backwards for the threshold length of time. For example,if the user started using the second device at 10:00 PM, and thethreshold length of time was ten minutes, the media guidance applicationmay determine the media content consumed by the user, on the firstdevice from 9:50 PM to 10:00 PM.

The media guidance application may then determine first media contentconsumed by the user on the first device during the period of time. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine whether or not thefirst device (e.g., the set-top box) was tuned to a specific channel,watching a particular movie, etc. In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may compare media guidance data (e.g., programlistings) corresponding to media content the user consumed during thethreshold length of time on the first device in order to identify themedia content.

The media guidance application may then determine a characteristic(e.g., a genre, a subject matter, a title, a type, a featured actor, afeatured character, etc.) of the first media content. For example, themedia guidance application may detect that the user is watching adocumentary about a musician on a television via a set-top box.

The media guidance application may then recommend, based on thecharacteristic, second media content for consumption on the seconddevice. For example, the media guidance application may filter availablemedia content based on whether the available media content is associatedwith the characteristic to determine the second media content torecommend. For example, if the characteristic is a name of a musicianabout whom the user was watching a documentary on the first device, themedia guidance application may recommend, to the user, music and/orother content by the same musician on a second device.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application generates fordisplay recommendations only on devices associated with the user andlikewise bases recommendations on the media content consumed on devicesassociated with the user. For example, the media guidance applicationmay store a list of devices associated with the user and recommend,based on the characteristic, second media content for consumption oneach device in the list of devices. For example, the media guidanceapplication may associate a set-top box connected to a television, anelectronic tablet, and a smart phone with a user. If the user iswatching a movie on a television via a set-top box featuring a specificactor, the media guidance application may recommend, on an electronictablet, a different movie to the user featuring the same actor.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may recommendcontent in a different format than the content previously consumed bythe user. For example, media content consumed on a first device mayinclude video content while media content recommended to a user onanother device may include audio content. For example if the user isconsuming a music video on a first device, the media guidanceapplication may find, for consumption on the second device, music by thesame artist in an audio format only.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may select athreshold length based on one or more factors. For example, thethreshold length of time may be based on an amount of time the usercontinuously used the first device immediately before using the seconddevice. For example, the user may be consuming content on a set-top boxconnected to a television throughout the day. The media guidanceapplication may store, in memory, the time the user started consumingcontent on the set-top box. The media guidance application may thenmonitor user's consumption on the set-top box. When the user stopsconsuming media content on the set-top box, the media guidanceapplication may store, in the memory, the time the user stoppedconsuming content. When the user starts consuming content on the set-topbox again, the media guidance application may overwrite the start timeand the end time with new values. As a result, the threshold length oftime stored, in memory, will be based on an amount of time the usersporadically used the first device before using the second device, whilecompensating for time when the first device was idle.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine thecharacteristic of the media content upon which content recommendationsare based using one or more techniques. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine a plurality of content types consumed by theuser during the threshold length of time on the first device anddetermine the characteristic based on a content type of the plurality ofcontent types most frequently consumed by the user. For example, if theuser consumed a total of three hours of content and during those threehours the user consumed two and a half hours of music videos and half ofan hour of news programs, the media guidance application may determinethe characteristic of the media content based only on the music videosconsumed by the user.

It should be noted that the systems and/or methods described above maybe applied to, or used in accordance with, other systems, methods and/orapparatuses.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and advantages of the disclosure will beapparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencecharacters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative embodiment of a display screen that may beused to provide media guidance application listings and other mediaguidance information, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 2 shows another illustrative embodiment of a display screen thatmay be used to provide media guidance application listings, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an illustrative device in accordance withsome embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an illustrative media system in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative embodiment of a set of display screens usedto provide recommended content, in accordance with some embodiments ofthe disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in recommendingcontent on a second device based on content recently consumed by a useron the first device, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure; and

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in determining thata user stopped using a first device and is using a second device, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Systems and methods are described herein for a media guidanceapplication that facilities sharing data collected on one device withanother device to tailor recommendations of media content to aparticular user. Moreover, in order to recommend content having thegreatest interest to a user at a particular time, the media guidanceapplication bases the recommendations it is providing on a second deviceon content recently consumed by the user on a first device.

As referred to herein, a “media guidance application” or a “guidanceapplication” is an application that provides media guidance data to auser through an interface. For example, a media guidance application mayallow users to efficiently navigate content selections and easilyidentify content that they may desire. As referred to herein, the phrase“media guidance data” or “guidance data” should be understood to meanany data related to content or data used in operating the guidanceapplication. For example, the guidance data may include programinformation, guidance application settings, user preferences, userprofile information, media listings, media-related information (e.g.,broadcast times, broadcast channels, titles, descriptions, ratingsinformation (e.g., parental control ratings, critic's ratings, etc.),genre or category information, actor information, logo data forbroadcasters' or providers' logos, etc.), media format (e.g., standarddefinition, high definition, 3D, etc.), advertisement information (e.g.,text, images, media clips, etc.), on-demand information, blogs,websites, and any other type of guidance data that is helpful for a userto navigate among and locate desired content selections.

Media guidance applications may take various forms depending on thecontent for which they provide guidance. One typical type of mediaguidance application is an interactive television program guide.Interactive television program guides (sometimes referred to aselectronic program guides) are well-known guidance applications that,among other things, allow users to navigate among and locate many typesof content or media assets. Media guidance applications may generategraphical user interface screens that enable a user to navigate among,locate and select content.

As referred to herein, the terms “media asset” and “content” should beunderstood to mean an electronically consumable user asset, such astelevision programming, as well as pay-per-view programs, on-demandprograms (as in video-on-demand (VOD) systems), Internet content (e.g.,streaming content, downloadable content, Webcasts, etc.), video clips,audio, content information, pictures, rotating images, documents,playlists, websites, articles, books, electronic books, blogs,advertisements, chat sessions, social media, applications, games, and/orany other media or multimedia and/or combination of the same. Guidanceapplications also allow users to navigate among and locate content. Asreferred to herein, the term “multimedia” should be understood to meancontent that utilizes at least two different content forms describedabove, for example, text, audio, images, video, or interactivity contentforms. Content may be recorded, played, displayed or accessed by userequipment devices, but can also be part of a live performance.

The media guidance application and/or any instructions for performingany of the embodiments discussed herein may be encoded on computerreadable media. Computer readable media includes any media capable ofstoring data. The computer readable media may be transitory, including,but not limited to, propagating electrical or electromagnetic signals,or may be non-transitory including, but not limited to, volatile andnon-volatile computer memory or storage devices such as a hard disk,floppy disk, USB drive, DVD, CD, media cards, register memory, processorcaches, Random Access Memory (“RAM”), etc.

The media guidance application may present media guidance data on a userdevice. As referred to herein, the phrase “user equipment device,” “userequipment,” “user device,” “electronic device,” “electronic equipment,”“media equipment device,” or “media device” should be understood to meanany device for accessing the content described above, such as atelevision, a Smart TV, a set-top box, an integrated receiver decoder(IRD) for handling satellite television, a digital storage device, adigital media receiver (DMR), a digital media adapter (DMA), a streamingmedia device, a DVD player, a DVD recorder, a connected DVD, a localmedia server, a BLU-RAY player, a BLU-RAY recorder, a personal computer(PC), a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a WebTV box, a personalcomputer television (PC/TV), a PC media server, a PC media center, ahandheld computer, a stationary telephone, a personal digital assistant(PDA), a mobile telephone, a portable video player, a portable musicplayer, a portable gaming machine, a smart phone, or any othertelevision equipment, computing equipment, or wireless device, and/orcombination of the same.

In some embodiments, the user equipment device may have a front facingscreen and a rear facing screen, multiple front screens, or multipleangled screens. In some embodiments, the user equipment device may havea front facing camera and/or a rear facing camera. On these userequipment devices, users may be able to navigate among and locate thesame content available through a television. Consequently, mediaguidance may be available on these devices, as well. The guidanceprovided may be for content available only through a television, forcontent available only through one or more of other types of userequipment devices, or for content available both through a televisionand one or more of the other types of user equipment devices. The mediaguidance applications may be provided as on-line applications (i.e.,provided on a web-site), or as stand-alone applications or clients onuser equipment devices. Various devices and platforms that may implementmedia guidance applications are described in more detail below.

In some embodiments, the media guidance data provided by the mediaguidance application may appear as a recommendation of media content.For example, a user may consume content on an electronic tablet whilecommuting from work to her home. The media guidance application maydetermine that the user was watching romantic comedies on the electronictablet during her commute, and based on that, recommend to the userother romantic comedies to watch on the user's television via a set-topbox.

In some embodiments, a media guidance application may generate fordisplay recommendations in response to determining that a user hasstopped using a first device and is using a second device. To determinewhen a user is using or otherwise interacting with a particular device,the media guidance application may employ numerous techniques. Forexample, the first device may be a set-top box and a second device maybe smart a phone. The media guidance application may determine that theuser is using the set-top box by detecting user input (e.g., tuning to aspecific channel) into the set-top box. The user may interact with theset-top box by direct contact, via a remote control, via another device,via voice commands, or any other means available to the user.

The media guidance application may catalogue the use of each device todetermine whether or not a user is interacting with the device. Forexample, every time the media guidance application detects a user inputinto the set-top box, the media guidance application may start a timerto keep track of the amount of time passed since the user input. Whenthe timer reaches a threshold number, the media guidance application maydetermine that the user has stopped using the set-top box. The mediaguidance application may also start monitoring other devices for userinput. Once user input is detected on another device, the media guidanceapplication may determine that the user is using a second device.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, in response todetermining that the user has stopped using the first device and isusing the second device, retrieve a threshold length of time frommemory. As referred to herein, a “threshold length of time” is a lengthof time used to indicate media content recently consumed by a user on adevice. For example, the threshold length of time may begin at a pointin time when a user starts consuming media content on a second device(or stops consuming media content on a first device) and extendbackwards through time to a point in time during which a user wasconsuming media content on a first device. The media guidanceapplication may determine media content consumed by the user from thepoint in time during which the user was consuming media content on thefirst device to a point in time at which the user stopped consumingmedia content on the first device. The media guidance application maythen identify the determined media content as media content recentlyconsumed by the user. This recently consumed media content may be usedby the media guidance application to determine additional media content(and/or determine criteria for the additional media content) that a userwould like to consume on a second device when the user begins to consumemedia content on the second device.

The threshold length of time may be calculated in various units ofmeasure. For example, the threshold length of time may be calculated inseconds, minutes, and/or other increments of time. Alternatively oradditionally, the threshold length of time may be calculated in a numberof media assets consumed by the user. For example, the threshold lengthmay correspond to a particular number of songs previously consumed bythe user. For example, the media guidance application may baserecommendations for additional media content on a device on the lastfour songs previously consumed by a user on a different device.

The media guidance application may select the points in time that definethe threshold length of time based on various criteria. For example, thepoints in time may be determined based on when a user started using asecond device, when a user stopped using a first device, the length oftime between using the first device and the second device, the type ofdevice used to consume the media content, the type of content consumedby the user on the devices, etc.

For example, the media guidance application may be activated on a firstdevice (e.g., an electronic tablet) and on a second device (e.g., asmart phone). When the user starts consuming media content on theelectronic tablet, the media guidance application may activate a timeron the electronic tablet. When the media guidance application determinesthat the user stopped consuming the media content on the electronictablet and started using the smart phone, it may transmit a request tothe electronic tablet to stop the timer and to transmit the timer'selapsed time to the smart phone. Once the smart phone receives thatelapsed time, the value may be stored in memory for later retrieval.

In another example, the media guidance application may store, in memory,a time when the user starts consuming media content on a first device(“Start Time”). When the media guidance application determines that theuser is using the second device, it may request that the Start Time betransmitted from the first device to the second device. Once the mediaguidance application receives the Start Time on the second device, themedia guidance application may calculate the threshold length of timebased on the difference between the current time and the Start Time. Thethreshold length of time may then be stored in memory for laterretrieval.

In yet another example, the media guidance application may determinethat the user is consuming media content in intervals. The user may beconsuming media content on an electronic tablet. The user may, forexample, be watching Internet videos on the tablet. However, whilewatching the Internet videos, the user may be interrupted because shemay need to help her children with their homework. While the user ishelping her children with their homework, the Internet videos may becontinuing to play on the electronic tablet, but the user is notconsuming the videos during that time. The media guidance applicationmay determine that the interruption is occurring by detecting, via acamera for example, that the user is not looking at the tablet. When theuser is done helping her kids with their homework, she may resumewatching the internet videos. As a result the media guidance applicationmay store two threshold lengths of time in order to take into accountthe interruption.

In yet another example, the media guidance application may determine athreshold length of time based on the media asset the user was consuminglast. For example, the user may be watching an episode of “Saved by theBell” on a television via a set-top box. If the user has to leave herhome, she may take her electronic tablet with her. The media guidanceapplication may determine that the threshold length of time is theamount of time the user spent watching “Saved by the Bell” because theuser may want to watch another “Saved by the Bell” episode on herelectronic table.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine aperiod of time beginning at a point in time when the user began usingthe second device and extending backwards for the threshold length oftime. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve thecurrent time from the second device and store it in memory as endingtime for the period. The media guidance application may furtherdetermine the starting time for the period by subtracting the thresholdlength of time from the ending time. The ending time and the startingtime together may then be stored in memory to indicate the period oftime.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine firstmedia content consumed by the user on the first device during the periodof time. For example, the media guidance application may determine thatthe user watched “Dumb and Dumber” and “The Big Bang Theory” on thefirst device (e.g., a television via set-top box). As part ofdetermination, the media guidance application may analyze media contentlistings associated with the two media assets and may store theinformation in those content listings for retrieval at a later time.

In another example the user may have consumed media content on the firstdevice (e.g., an electronic tablet) that does not have content listingsassociated with it (e.g., Internet videos). The media guidanceapplication may store in memory characteristics associated with theconsumed media content. As defined herein, a “characteristic” is anyinformation about a media asset that may be used to categorize the mediaasset and/or distinguish the media asset from other media assets. Forexample, characteristics of media content may include any informationabout the media content as well as any information within the mediacontent. For example, characteristics may be genre, title, length,source, actors, etc. If a user started watching an Internet video, themedia guidance application may keep track of characteristics associatedwith the video. These characteristics may be retrieved from the Internetvideo itself, meta-data associated with the video, or the Internet sitethat is making the Internet video available to users. Once the mediaguidance application retrieves these characteristics it may store themon the first device. These characteristics may later be sent to thesecond device.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine acharacteristic of the first media content. For example, if the user islistening to the radio while commuting in her car, she may be listeningto rock music only. As a result the media guidance application maydetermine that “rock music” is a characteristic of the first mediacontent. Alternatively, or additionally, the media guidance applicationmay determine that a characteristic of the first media content is musicby a specific rock band and/or artist based on the user listening tomusic by that rock band or artist.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine themost popular or prevalent subset of media content recently consumed bythe user. For example, all of the videos watched by the user may nothave a common characteristic, but a subset of the videos may (e.g., thesubset may correspond to a cooking show genre). The media guidanceapplication may determine the characteristic based on that subset only.For example, if the media guidance application determines that a userwatched a hockey game, three cooking shows, and a news program, themedia guidance application may determine, based on the program listingsassociated with those programs, for example, that the programs have nocommon characteristics associated with them. However, the cooking showshave a common characteristic associated with them. As a result, themedia guidance application may determine the characteristic of the firstmedia content based on the cooking shows only.

In yet another example, the media guidance application may determinethat the videos watched by the user may be divided into a number ofsubsets where each subset shares a characteristic. The media guidanceapplication may determine that a characteristic of the first mediacontent may be the subset that has the most videos associated with it.Alternatively or additionally, the media guidance application maydetermine multiple characteristics of the first media content. Forexample, these multiple characteristics may be based on the subsetsdescribed above. The media guidance application may further rank thesubsets based on the amount of time the user consumed content associatedwith a particular subset. For example, if the user was watching a 2-hourmovie on an electronic tablet and then a 15-minute news segment, themedia guidance application may rank the subset that includes the 2-hourmovie higher then the subset that includes the 15-minute news segment.Additionally, or alternatively, the media guidance application may rankthe subsets based on the number of media assets in each subset. Forexample, the user may have listened to ten 3-minute rock songs on hersmartphone and also watched an hour long episode of “Star Trek”. Themedia guidance application may determine two characteristics for theconsumed media content. The first characteristic may be “rock music” andthe second “sci-fi shows”. The ten rock songs may go into the firstsubset and “Star Trek” may go into the second subset. “Rock music” maybe ranked higher because of ten songs in the subset versus only oneshow, despite the show being longer. There may be other ranking criteriafor the characteristics. These can be ranked based on user preferencesin the user profile. They can be also based on what content was consumedmost recently and whether the user consumed the whole program associatedwith the characteristic or whether the user switched to another programin the middle.

In another example the ranks may be determined by a weighted average ofsome or all the methods described above. For example, if a user watcheda 2-hour movie and listened to ten 3-minute songs, the media guidanceapplication may determine that each 3-minute song is equivalent toconsuming eighteen minutes of the movie. As a result the rank of thecharacteristic may be determined based on both the length of the mediacontent and the number of the media assets.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may recommend, basedon the characteristic, second media content for consumption on thesecond device. For example, the media guidance application may receivethe characteristic of the first media content on the second device. Oncethe second device receives the characteristic, the media guidanceapplication may search media content available on the second device formedia assets that match the characteristic. For example, thecharacteristic of the first media content consumed on a set-top boxconnected to a television may be “Sherlock Holmes,” based on a userwatching movies featuring this character. If the user switches to asmart phone as her second device, the media guidance application maysearch the smart phone for “Sherlock Holmes” media content. If theuser's smart phone has access to media listings, the media guidanceapplication may search those listings for “Sherlock Holmes.”Additionally or alternatively, if the user's smart phone has access tothe Internet through a cellular and/or Wi-Fi connection, the mediaguidance application may search Internet sites for content matching“Sherlock Holmes.” As an example, the media guidance application may useany commercial search engine for this search. The media guidanceapplication may narrow down the search, if appropriate, to only videoassets (e.g., movies), audio assets (e.g., audio books, narratives),and/or textual content (e.g., short stories). If the media guidanceapplication receives multiple characteristics on the second device, itmay execute the search described above for each of the characteristicsreceived and return media content recommendations corresponding to eachcharacteristic. The characteristics may be ranked as described above. Ifthe characteristics are ranked, the media guidance application may onlypresent to the user media content associated with the highest rankedcharacteristic or it may present to the user content in order of therankings.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may store a list ofdevices associated with the user and recommend, based on thecharacteristic, the second media content for consumption on each devicein the list of devices. For example, a user may have three devicesassociated with her (e.g., a set-top box connected to a television, anelectronic tablet, and a smart phone). The user may be consuming mediacontent on the set-top box connected to a television. The user may stopusing the set-top box and start using the electronic tablet. As aresult, the media guidance application may recommend media contentavailable on the electronic tablet based on the characteristic. If theuser later starts using her smart phone, the media guidance applicationmay recommend media content available on the smart phone based on thecharacteristic.

In some embodiments, determining that the user has stopped using thefirst device and is using the second device comprises detecting that theuser has moved from a first location that is associated with the firstdevice to a second location that is associated with the second device.For example, the user's home entertainment system may be associated withthe user's home and the user's car entertainment system may beassociated with the user's car. A user may be listening to music on herhome entertainment system. When the media guidance applicationdetermines that the user has now activated her car entertainment system,the media guidance application may determine that the user stopped usingthe first device and is using the second device.

In some embodiments, determining that the user has stopped using thefirst device and is using the second device comprises detecting that theuser has stopped interacting with the first device and is interactingwith the second device. For example, a user may be using her smart phoneto listen to music. The media guidance application may be detectingevery user input into the smart phone and storing the time of the userinput. The media guidance application may activate a timer when userinput is detected and also store in memory the last input timecorresponding to the current time. Once the timer reaches a thresholdvalue, the media guidance application may make a preliminarydetermination that the user has stopped using the smart phone. The mediaguidance application may then monitor a second device for user input. Ifuser input is detected on the second device, the media guidanceapplication may determine that the user has stopped using the firstdevice and is using the second device. However, if user input isdetected on the first device after the threshold value has been reached,the media guidance application may update the last input time with a newtime and restart the timer.

In some embodiments, the first media content comprises video content andthe second media content consists of audio content. For example, theuser may be watching a movie on a first device (e.g., electronic tablet)and then switch to a device that only supports audio (e.g., car radio).As a result, the characteristic of the first media content on the firstdevice may be based on media content comprising video and therecommendation on the second device may be of an audio only content.

In some embodiments, the threshold length of time is based on an amountof time the user continuously used the first device immediately beforeusing the second device. For example, a user may be consuming content onan electronic tablet throughout the day. She may watch the news in themorning, some soap operas in the afternoon, and some Internet videos anda news program in the evening. As a result, the media guidanceapplication may store a threshold length of time based only on the timethe user was consuming the Internet videos and the news program in theevening. Since the media content consumed in the morning and in theafternoon was not consumed continuously with the content consumed in theevening, this content is not used in the threshold length of time.Alternatively or additionally, the media guidance application maydetermine the characteristics based on sporadic use of the first device.

In some embodiments, determining the characteristic of the first mediacontent comprises determining a plurality of content types consumed bythe user during the period of time on the first device and determiningthe characteristic based on a content type of the plurality of contenttypes most frequently consumed by the user. For example, the mediaguidance application may divide media content into content types, basedon the characteristics of the media content. The types of media contentmay be movies, news programs, episodes of a series, music, music videos,cartoons, sporting events, sitcoms, etc. Media content may be furthersubdivided. For example, movies may be divided into action, comedies,romance, documentaries, classics, children, dramas, horror, thrillers,etc. Cartoons may be divided into adult cartoons and children'scartoons. The media guidance application may determine thecharacteristic of the media content based on media content listingsassociated with specific media assets, it may be retrieving thosecharacteristics from a website providing the media assets, it may beaccessing meta-data associated with the media assets for thecharacteristics, or it may be retrieving that information from adatabase. An example of such a database may be found at www.imdb.com.The media guidance application may determine that the user has consumedsitcoms, news programs and music videos on the first device. The mediaguidance application may determine the type of content of each of thosemedia assets, based on the media content listings for those mediaassets. The media guidance application may then determine which type ofmedia content the user has consumed most frequently. For example, theuser may have consumed a total of three hours of media content on thefirst device. The user may have consumed two hours of sitcoms, thirtyminutes of music videos, and a thirty minute news program. As a result,the media guidance application may determine the characteristic based ononly the two hours of sitcoms that the user consumed. In anotherexample, the media guidance application may determine the characteristicof the first media content based on the type of content the userconsumed last. As a result, in the example above, if the user consumedtwo hours of sitcoms, a thirty minute news program, and thirty minutesof music videos in that order, the media guidance application maydetermine the characteristic of the first media content based on thethirty minutes of music videos only.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may generate analert that indicates to the user that the second media content isavailable on the second device. An “alert,” as defined herein, may beany communication to a user that apprises the user of one or moreoccurrences. For example, the alert may alert the user of theavailability of media content recommendations that are based on contentrecently consumed by the user on a different device. It should be notedthat the alert may include audio, video, and/or text based alerts.

In some embodiments, an alert may be generated together with a listingof recommended media content. For example, if a media guidanceapplication determines that a content recommendation is available, themedia guidance application may notify the user of the availability ofthe media content recommendation by having the second device alert theuser (e.g., through a vibration, an audio tone, a visual cue, etc.). Themedia guidance application may alert the user of the available mediacontent recommendation in different ways based on the type of mediacontent that is available. For example, if the available recommendationis for a movie, the media guidance application may notify the userthrough a visual cue. If the recommendation is for a song, the mediaguidance application may generate an audio tone. The media guidanceapplication may also notify the user of the number of media assetsrecommended to the user. For example, if the media guidance applicationdetermines that three media assets are being recommended to a user, themedia guidance application may cause the electronic tablet to vibratethree times. Of course, if many media assets are recommended, the mediaguidance application may vibrate a maximum of five times in order toavoid irritating the user. Additionally or alternatively, the mediaguidance application may generate for display, to the user, a visual cueof a number of media assets that are recommended.

FIGS. 1-2 show illustrative display screens that may be used to providemedia guidance data. The display screens shown in FIGS. 1-2 may beimplemented on any suitable user equipment device or platform. While thedisplays of FIGS. 1-2 are illustrated as full screen displays, they mayalso be fully or partially overlaid over content being displayed. A usermay indicate a desire to access content information by selecting aselectable option provided in a display screen (e.g., a menu option, alistings option, an icon, a hyperlink, etc.) or pressing a dedicatedbutton (e.g., a GUIDE button) on a remote control or other user inputinterface or device. In response to the user's indication, the mediaguidance application may provide a display screen with media guidancedata organized in one of several ways, such as by time and channel in agrid, by time, by channel, by source, by content type, by category(e.g., movies, sports, news, children, or other categories ofprogramming), or other predefined, user-defined, or other organizationcriteria.

FIG. 1 shows illustrative grid of a program listings display 100arranged by time and channel that also enables access to different typesof content in a single display. Display 100 may include grid 102 with:(1) a column of channel/content type identifiers 104, where eachchannel/content type identifier (which is a cell in the column)identifies a different channel or content type available; and (2) a rowof time identifiers 106, where each time identifier (which is a cell inthe row) identifies a time block of programming. Grid 102 also includescells of program listings, such as program listing 108, where eachlisting provides the title of the program provided on the listing'sassociated channel and time. With a user input device, a user can selectprogram listings by moving highlight region 110. Information relating tothe program listing selected by highlight region 110 may be provided inprogram information region 112. Region 112 may include, for example, theprogram title, the program description, the time the program is provided(if applicable), the channel the program is on (if applicable), theprogram's rating, and other desired information.

In addition to providing access to linear programming (e.g., contentthat is scheduled to be transmitted to a plurality of user equipmentdevices at a predetermined time and is provided according to aschedule), the media guidance application also provides access tonon-linear programming (e.g., content accessible to a user equipmentdevice at any time and is not provided according to a schedule).Non-linear programming may include content from different contentsources including on-demand content (e.g., VOD), Internet content (e.g.,streaming media, downloadable media, etc.), locally stored content(e.g., content stored on any user equipment device described above orother storage device), or other time-independent content. On-demandcontent may include movies or any other content provided by a particularcontent provider (e.g., HBO On Demand providing “The Sopranos” and “CurbYour Enthusiasm”). HBO ON DEMAND is a service mark owned by Time WarnerCompany L.P. et al. and THE SOPRANOS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM aretrademarks owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Internet content mayinclude web events, such as a chat session or Webcast, or contentavailable on-demand as streaming content or downloadable content throughan Internet web site or other Internet access (e.g. FTP).

Grid 102 may provide media guidance data for non-linear programmingincluding on-demand listing 114, recorded content listing 116, andInternet content listing 118. A display combining media guidance datafor content from different types of content sources is sometimesreferred to as a “mixed-media” display. Various permutations of thetypes of media guidance data that may be displayed that are differentthan display 100 may be based on user selection or guidance applicationdefinition (e.g., a display of only recorded and broadcast listings,only on-demand and broadcast listings, etc.). As illustrated, listings114, 116, and 118 are shown as spanning the entire time block displayedin grid 102 to indicate that selection of these listings may provideaccess to a display dedicated to on-demand listings, recorded listings,or Internet listings, respectively. In some embodiments, listings forthese content types may be included directly in grid 102. Additionalmedia guidance data may be displayed in response to the user selectingone of the navigational icons 120. (Pressing an arrow key on a userinput device may affect the display in a similar manner as selectingnavigational icons 120.)

Display 100 may also include video region 122, advertisement 124, andoptions region 126. Video region 122 may allow the user to view and/orpreview programs that are currently available, will be available, orwere available to the user. The content of video region 122 maycorrespond to, or be independent from, one of the listings displayed ingrid 102. Grid displays including a video region are sometimes referredto as picture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG displays and theirfunctionalities are described in greater detail in Satterfield et al.U.S. Pat. No. 6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003 and Yuen et al. U.S. Pat.No. 6,239,794, issued May 29, 2001, which are hereby incorporated byreference herein in their entireties. PIG displays may be included inother media guidance application display screens of the embodimentsdescribed herein.

Advertisement 124 may provide an advertisement for content that,depending on a viewer's access rights (e.g., for subscriptionprogramming), is currently available for viewing, will be available forviewing in the future, or may never become available for viewing, andmay correspond to or be unrelated to one or more of the content listingsin grid 102. Advertisement 124 may also be for products or servicesrelated or unrelated to the content displayed in grid 102. Advertisement124 may be selectable and provide further information about content,provide information about a product or a service, enable purchasing ofcontent, a product, or a service, provide content relating to theadvertisement, etc. Advertisement 124 may be targeted based on a user'sprofile/preferences, monitored user activity, the type of displayprovided, or on other suitable targeted advertisement bases.

While advertisement 124 is shown as rectangular or banner shaped,advertisements may be provided in any suitable size, shape, and locationin a guidance application display. For example, advertisement 124 may beprovided as a rectangular shape that is horizontally adjacent to grid102. This is sometimes referred to as a panel advertisement. Inaddition, advertisements may be overlaid over content or a guidanceapplication display or embedded within a display. Advertisements mayalso include text, images, rotating images, video clips, or other typesof content described above. Advertisements may be stored in a userequipment device having a guidance application, in a database connectedto the user equipment, in a remote location (including streaming mediaservers), or on other storage means, or a combination of theselocations. Providing advertisements in a media guidance application isdiscussed in greater detail in, for example, Knudson et al., U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2003/0110499, filed Jan. 17, 2003; Ward, IIIet al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,756,997, issued Jun. 29, 2004; and Schein et al.U.S. Pat. No. 6,388,714, issued May 14, 2002, which are herebyincorporated by reference herein in their entireties. It will beappreciated that advertisements may be included in other media guidanceapplication display screens of the embodiments described herein.

Options region 126 may allow the user to access different types ofcontent, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidanceapplication features. Options region 126 may be part of display 100 (andother display screens described herein), or may be invoked by a user byselecting an on-screen option or pressing a dedicated or assignablebutton on a user input device. The selectable options within optionsregion 126 may concern features related to program listings in grid 102or may include options available from a main menu display. Featuresrelated to program listings may include searching for other air times orways of receiving a program, recording a program, enabling seriesrecording of a program, setting program and/or channel as a favorite,purchasing a program, or other features. Options available from a mainmenu display may include search options, VOD options, parental controloptions, Internet options, cloud-based options, device synchronizationoptions, second screen device options, options to access various typesof media guidance data displays, options to subscribe to a premiumservice, options to edit a user's profile, options to access a browseoverlay, or other options.

The media guidance application may be personalized based on a user'spreferences. A personalized media guidance application allows a user tocustomize displays and features to create a personalized “experience”with the media guidance application. This personalized experience may becreated by allowing a user to input these customizations and/or by themedia guidance application monitoring user activity to determine varioususer preferences. Users may access their personalized guidanceapplication by logging in or otherwise identifying themselves to theguidance application. Customization of the media guidance applicationmay be made in accordance with a user profile. The customizations mayinclude varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays,font size of text, etc.), aspects of content listings displayed (e.g.,only HDTV or only 3D programming, user-specified broadcast channelsbased on favorite channel selections, re-ordering the display ofchannels, recommended content, etc.), desired recording features (e.g.,recording or series recordings for particular users, recording quality,etc.), parental control settings, customized presentation of Internetcontent (e.g., presentation of social media content, e-mail,electronically delivered articles, etc.) and other desiredcustomizations.

The media guidance application may allow a user to provide user profileinformation or may automatically compile user profile information. Themedia guidance application may, for example, monitor the content theuser accesses and/or other interactions the user may have with theguidance application. Additionally, the media guidance application mayobtain all or part of other user profiles that are related to aparticular user (e.g., from other web sites on the Internet the useraccesses, such as www.allrovi.com, from other media guidanceapplications the user accesses, from other interactive applications theuser accesses, from another user equipment device of the user, etc.),and/or obtain information about the user from other sources that themedia guidance application may access. As a result, a user can beprovided with a unified guidance application experience across theuser's different user equipment devices. This type of user experience isdescribed in greater detail below in connection with FIG. 4. Additionalpersonalized media guidance application features are described ingreater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005, Boyer et al., U.S. Pat. No.7,165,098, issued Jan. 16, 2007, and Ellis et al., U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2002/0174430, filed Feb. 21, 2002, which arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is shown inFIG. 2. Video mosaic display 200 includes selectable options 202 forcontent information organized based on content type, genre, and/or otherorganization criteria. In display 200, television listings option 204 isselected, thus providing listings 206, 208, 210, and 212 as broadcastprogram listings. In display 200 the listings may provide graphicalimages including cover art, still images from the content, video clippreviews, live video from the content, or other types of content thatindicate to a user the content being described by the media guidancedata in the listing. Each of the graphical listings may also beaccompanied by text to provide further information about the contentassociated with the listing. For example, listing 208 may include morethan one portion, including media portion 214 and text portion 216.Media portion 214 and/or text portion 216 may be selectable to viewcontent in full-screen or to view information related to the contentdisplayed in media portion 214 (e.g., to view listings for the channelthat the video is displayed on).

The listings in display 200 are of different sizes (i.e., listing 206 islarger than listings 208, 210, and 212), but if desired, all thelistings may be the same size. Listings may be of different sizes orgraphically accentuated to indicate degrees of interest to the user orto emphasize certain content, as desired by the content provider orbased on user preferences. Various systems and methods for graphicallyaccentuating content listings are discussed in, for example, Yates, U.S.Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0153885, filed Dec. 29, 2005,which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Users may access content and the media guidance application (and itsdisplay screens described above and below) from one or more of theiruser equipment devices. FIG. 3 shows a generalized embodiment ofillustrative user equipment device 300. More specific implementations ofuser equipment devices are discussed below in connection with FIG. 4.User equipment device 300 may receive content and data via input/output(hereinafter “I/O”) path 302. I/O path 302 may provide content (e.g.,broadcast programming, on-demand programming, Internet content, contentavailable over a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN),and/or other content) and data to control circuitry 304, which includesprocessing circuitry 306 and storage 308. Control circuitry 304 may beused to send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable datausing I/O path 302. I/O path 302 may connect control circuitry 304 (andspecifically processing circuitry 306) to one or more communicationspaths (described below). I/O functions may be provided by one or more ofthese communications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 3 toavoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Control circuitry 304 may be based on any suitable processing circuitrysuch as processing circuitry 306. As referred to herein, processingcircuitry should be understood to mean circuitry based on one or moremicroprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors,programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc., and may includea multi-core processor (e.g., dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, or anysuitable number of cores) or supercomputer. In some embodiments,processing circuitry may be distributed across multiple separateprocessors or processing units, for example, multiple of the same typeof processing units (e.g., two Intel Core i7 processors) or multipledifferent processors (e.g., an Intel Core i5 processor and an Intel Corei7 processor). In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 executesinstructions for a media guidance application stored in memory (i.e.,storage 308). Specifically, control circuitry 304 may be instructed bythe media guidance application to perform the functions discussed aboveand below. For example, the media guidance application may provideinstructions to control circuitry 304 to generate the media guidancedisplays. In some implementations, any action performed by controlcircuitry 304 may be based on instructions received from the mediaguidance application.

In client-server based embodiments, control circuitry 304 may includecommunications circuitry suitable for communicating with a guidanceapplication server or other networks or servers. The instructions forcarrying out the above mentioned functionality may be stored on theguidance application server. Communications circuitry may include acable modem, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) modem, adigital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephone modem, Ethernet card,or a wireless modem for communications with other equipment, or anyother suitable communications circuitry. Such communications may involvethe Internet or any other suitable communications networks or paths(which is described in more detail in connection with FIG. 4). Inaddition, communications circuitry may include circuitry that enablespeer-to-peer communication of user equipment devices, or communicationof user equipment devices in locations remote from each other (describedin more detail below).

Memory may be an electronic storage device provided as storage 308 thatis part of control circuitry 304. As referred to herein, the phrase“electronic storage device” or “storage device” should be understood tomean any device for storing electronic data, computer software, orfirmware, such as random-access memory, read-only memory, hard drives,optical drives, digital video disc (DVD) recorders, compact disc (CD)recorders, BLU-RAY disc (BD) recorders, BLU-RAY 3D disc recorders,digital video recorders (DVR, sometimes called a personal videorecorder, or PVR), solid state devices, quantum storage devices, gamingconsoles, gaming media, or any other suitable fixed or removable storagedevices, and/or any combination of the same. Storage 308 may be used tostore various types of content described herein as well as mediaguidance data described above. Nonvolatile memory may also be used(e.g., to launch a boot-up routine and other instructions). Cloud-basedstorage, described in relation to FIG. 4, may be used to supplementstorage 308 or instead of storage 308.

Control circuitry 304 may include video generating circuitry and tuningcircuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-definition tuners, orany other suitable tuning or video circuits or combinations of suchcircuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog,or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided.Control circuitry 304 may also include scaler circuitry for upconvertingand downconverting content into the preferred output format of the userequipment 300. Circuitry 304 may also include digital-to-analogconverter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry forconverting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may be used by the user equipment device to receive and todisplay, to play, or to record content. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may also be used to receive guidance data. The circuitrydescribed herein, including for example, the tuning, video generating,encoding, decoding, encrypting, decrypting, scaler, and analog/digitalcircuitry, may be implemented using software running on one or moregeneral purpose or specialized processors. Multiple tuners may beprovided to handle simultaneous tuning functions (e.g., watch and recordfunctions, picture-in-picture (PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording,etc.). If storage 308 is provided as a separate device from userequipment 300, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including multipletuners) may be associated with storage 308.

A user may send instructions to control circuitry 304 using user inputinterface 310. User input interface 310 may be any suitable userinterface, such as a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad, keyboard,touch screen, touchpad, stylus input, joystick, voice recognitioninterface, or other user input interfaces. Display 312 may be providedas a stand-alone device or integrated with other elements of userequipment device 300. For example, display 312 may be a touchscreen ortouch-sensitive display. In such circumstances, user input interface 312may be integrated with or combined with display 312. Display 312 may beone or more of a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display (LCD)for a mobile device, amorphous silicon display, low temperature polysilicon display, electronic ink display, electrophoretic display, activematrix display, electro-wetting display, electrofluidic display, cathoderay tube display, light-emitting diode display, electroluminescentdisplay, plasma display panel, high-performance addressing display,thin-film transistor display, organic light-emitting diode display,surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED), laser television,carbon nanotubes, quantum dot display, interferometric modulatordisplay, or any other suitable equipment for displaying visual images.In some embodiments, display 312 may be HDTV-capable. In someembodiments, display 312 may be a 3D display, and the interactive mediaguidance application and any suitable content may be displayed in 3D. Avideo card or graphics card may generate the output to the display 312.The video card may offer various functions such as accelerated renderingof 3D scenes and 2D graphics, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, TV output, or theability to connect multiple monitors. The video card may be anyprocessing circuitry described above in relation to control circuitry304. The video card may be integrated with the control circuitry 304.Speakers 314 may be provided as integrated with other elements of userequipment device 300 or may be stand-alone units. The audio component ofvideos and other content displayed on display 312 may be played throughspeakers 314. In some embodiments, the audio may be distributed to areceiver (not shown), which processes and outputs the audio via speakers314.

The guidance application may be implemented using any suitablearchitecture. For example, it may be a stand-alone applicationwholly-implemented on user equipment device 300. In such an approach,instructions of the application are stored locally (e.g., in storage308), and data for use by the application is downloaded on a periodicbasis (e.g., from an out-of-band feed, from an Internet resource, orusing another suitable approach). Control circuitry 304 may retrieveinstructions of the application from storage 308 and process theinstructions to generate any of the displays discussed herein. Based onthe processed instructions, control circuitry 304 may determine whataction to perform when input is received from input interface 310. Forexample, movement of a cursor on a display up/down may be indicated bythe processed instructions when input interface 310 indicates that anup/down button was selected.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is a client-serverbased application. Data for use by a thick or thin client implemented onuser equipment device 300 is retrieved on-demand by issuing requests toa server remote to the user equipment device 300. In one example of aclient-server based guidance application, control circuitry 304 runs aweb browser that interprets web pages provided by a remote server. Forexample, the remote server may store the instructions for theapplication in a storage device. The remote server may process thestored instructions using circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 304) andgenerate the displays discussed above and below. The client device mayreceive the displays generated by the remote server and may display thecontent of the displays locally on equipment device 300. This way, theprocessing of the instructions is performed remotely by the server whilethe resulting displays are provided locally on equipment device 300.Equipment device 300 may receive inputs from the user via inputinterface 310 and transmit those inputs to the remote server forprocessing and generating the corresponding displays. For example,equipment device 300 may transmit a communication to the remote serverindicating that an up/down button was selected via input interface 310.The remote server may process instructions in accordance with that inputand generate a display of the application corresponding to the input(e.g., a display that moves a cursor up/down). The generated display isthen transmitted to equipment device 300 for presentation to the user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is downloaded andinterpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual machine (runby control circuitry 304). In some embodiments, the guidance applicationmay be encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), received bycontrol circuitry 304 as part of a suitable feed, and interpreted by auser agent running on control circuitry 304. For example, the guidanceapplication may be an EBIF application. In some embodiments, theguidance application may be defined by a series of JAVA-based files thatare received and run by a local virtual machine or other suitablemiddleware executed by control circuitry 304. In some of suchembodiments (e.g., those employing MPEG-2 or other digital mediaencoding schemes), the guidance application may be, for example, encodedand transmitted in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the MPEG audio andvideo packets of a program.

User equipment device 300 of FIG. 3 can be implemented in system 400 ofFIG. 4 as user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404,wireless user communications device 406, or any other type of userequipment suitable for accessing content, such as a non-portable gamingmachine. For simplicity, these devices may be referred to hereincollectively as user equipment or user equipment devices, and may besubstantially similar to user equipment devices described above. Userequipment devices, on which a media guidance application may beimplemented, may function as a standalone device or may be part of anetwork of devices. Various network configurations of devices may beimplemented and are discussed in more detail below.

A user equipment device utilizing at least some of the system featuresdescribed above in connection with FIG. 3 may not be classified solelyas user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, or awireless user communications device 406. For example, user televisionequipment 402 may, like some user computer equipment 404, beInternet-enabled allowing for access to Internet content, while usercomputer equipment 404 may, like some television equipment 402, includea tuner allowing for access to television programming. The mediaguidance application may have the same layout on various different typesof user equipment or may be tailored to the display capabilities of theuser equipment. For example, on user computer equipment 404, theguidance application may be provided as a web site accessed by a webbrowser. In another example, the guidance application may be scaled downfor wireless user communications devices 406.

In system 400, there is typically more than one of each type of userequipment device but only one of each is shown in FIG. 4 to avoidovercomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user may utilize morethan one type of user equipment device and also more than one of eachtype of user equipment device.

In some embodiments, a user equipment device (e.g., user televisionequipment 402, user computer equipment 404, wireless user communicationsdevice 406) may be referred to as a “second screen device.” For example,a second screen device may supplement content presented on a first userequipment device. The content presented on the second screen device maybe any suitable content that supplements the content presented on thefirst device. In some embodiments, the second screen device provides aninterface for adjusting settings and display preferences of the firstdevice. In some embodiments, the second screen device is configured forinteracting with other second screen devices or for interacting with asocial network. The second screen device can be located in the same roomas the first device, a different room from the first device but in thesame house or building, or in a different building from the firstdevice.

The user may also set various settings to maintain consistent mediaguidance application settings across in-home devices and remote devices.Settings include those described herein, as well as channel and programfavorites, programming preferences that the guidance applicationutilizes to make programming recommendations, display preferences, andother desirable guidance settings. For example, if a user sets a channelas a favorite on, for example, the web site www.allrovi.com on theirpersonal computer at their office, the same channel would appear as afavorite on the user's in-home devices (e.g., user television equipmentand user computer equipment) as well as the user's mobile devices, ifdesired. Therefore, changes made on one user equipment device can changethe guidance experience on another user equipment device, regardless ofwhether they are the same or a different type of user equipment device.In addition, the changes made may be based on settings input by a user,as well as user activity monitored by the guidance application.

The user equipment devices may be coupled to communications network 414.Namely, user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, andwireless user communications device 406 are coupled to communicationsnetwork 414 via communications paths 408, 410, and 412, respectively.Communications network 414 may be one or more networks including theInternet, a mobile phone network, mobile voice or data network (e.g., a4G or LTE network), cable network, public switched telephone network, orother types of communications network or combinations of communicationsnetworks. Paths 408, 410, and 412 may separately or together include oneor more communications paths, such as, a satellite path, a fiber-opticpath, a cable path, a path that supports Internet communications (e.g.,IPTV), free-space connections (e.g., for broadcast or other wirelesssignals), or any other suitable wired or wireless communications path orcombination of such paths. Path 412 is drawn with dotted lines toindicate that in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 4 it is awireless path and paths 408 and 410 are drawn as solid lines to indicatethey are wired paths (although these paths may be wireless paths, ifdesired). Communications with the user equipment devices may be providedby one or more of these communications paths, but are shown as a singlepath in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipmentdevices, these devices may communicate directly with each other viacommunication paths, such as those described above in connection withpaths 408, 410, and 412, as well as other short-range point-to-pointcommunication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394 cables, wirelesspaths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x, etc.), or othershort-range communication via wired or wireless paths. BLUETOOTH is acertification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. The user equipmentdevices may also communicate with each other directly through anindirect path via communications network 414.

System 400 includes content source 416 and media guidance data source418 coupled to communications network 414 via communication paths 420and 422, respectively. Paths 420 and 422 may include any of thecommunication paths described above in connection with paths 408, 410,and 412. Communications with the content source 416 and media guidancedata source 418 may be exchanged over one or more communications paths,but are shown as a single path in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating thedrawing. In addition, there may be more than one of each of contentsource 416 and media guidance data source 418, but only one of each isshown in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. (The differenttypes of each of these sources are discussed below.) If desired, contentsource 416 and media guidance data source 418 may be integrated as onesource device. Although communications between sources 416 and 418 withuser equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 are shown as throughcommunications network 414, in some embodiments, sources 416 and 418 maycommunicate directly with user equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 viacommunication paths (not shown) such as those described above inconnection with paths 408, 410, and 412.

Content source 416 may include one or more types of content distributionequipment including a television distribution facility, cable systemheadend, satellite distribution facility, programming sources (e.g.,television broadcasters, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediatedistribution facilities and/or servers, Internet providers, on-demandmedia servers, and other content providers. NBC is a trademark owned bythe National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by theAmerican Broadcasting Company, Inc., and HBO is a trademark owned by theHome Box Office, Inc. Content source 416 may be the originator ofcontent (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast provider, etc.) ormay not be the originator of content (e.g., an on-demand contentprovider, an Internet provider of content of broadcast programs fordownloading, etc.). Content source 416 may include cable sources,satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internet providers,over-the-top content providers, or other providers of content. Contentsource 416 may also include a remote media server used to storedifferent types of content (including video content selected by a user),in a location remote from any of the user equipment devices. Systems andmethods for remote storage of content, and providing remotely storedcontent to user equipment are discussed in greater detail in connectionwith Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,761,892, issued Jul. 20, 2010, whichis hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Media guidance data source 418 may provide media guidance data, such asthe media guidance data described above. Media guidance data may beprovided to the user equipment devices using any suitable approach. Insome embodiments, the guidance application may be a stand-aloneinteractive television program guide that receives program guide datavia a data feed (e.g., a continuous feed or trickle feed). Programschedule data and other guidance data may be provided to the userequipment on a television channel sideband, using an in-band digitalsignal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or by any other suitabledata transmission technique. Program schedule data and other mediaguidance data may be provided to user equipment on multiple analog ordigital television channels.

In some embodiments, guidance data from media guidance data source 418may be provided to users' equipment using a client-server approach. Forexample, a user equipment device may pull media guidance data from aserver, or a server may push media guidance data to a user equipmentdevice. In some embodiments, a guidance application client residing onthe user's equipment may initiate sessions with source 418 to obtainguidance data when needed, e.g., when the guidance data is out of dateor when the user equipment device receives a request from the user toreceive data. Media guidance may be provided to the user equipment withany suitable frequency (e.g., continuously, daily, a user-specifiedperiod of time, a system-specified period of time, in response to arequest from user equipment, etc.). Media guidance data source 418 mayprovide user equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 the media guidanceapplication itself or software updates for the media guidanceapplication.

In some embodiments, the media guidance data may include viewer data.For example, the viewer data may include current and/or historical useractivity information (e.g., what content the user typically watches,what times of day the user watches content, whether the user interactswith a social network, at what times the user interacts with a socialnetwork to post information, what types of content the user typicallywatches (e.g., pay TV or free TV), mood, brain activity information,etc.). The media guidance data may also include subscription data. Forexample, the subscription data may identify to which sources or servicesa given user subscribes and/or to which sources or services the givenuser has previously subscribed but later terminated access (e.g.,whether the user subscribes to premium channels, whether the user hasadded a premium level of services, whether the user has increasedInternet speed). In some embodiments, the viewer data and/or thesubscription data may identify patterns of a given user for a period ofmore than one year. The media guidance data may include a model (e.g., asurvivor model) used for generating a score that indicates a likelihooda given user will terminate access to a service/source. For example, themedia guidance application may process the viewer data with thesubscription data using the model to generate a value or score thatindicates a likelihood of whether the given user will terminate accessto a particular service or source. In particular, a higher score mayindicate a higher level of confidence that the user will terminateaccess to a particular service or source. Based on the score, the mediaguidance application may generate promotions and advertisements thatentice the user to keep the particular service or source indicated bythe score as one to which the user will likely terminate access.

Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-aloneapplications implemented on user equipment devices. For example, themedia guidance application may be implemented as software or a set ofexecutable instructions which may be stored in storage 308, and executedby control circuitry 304 of a user equipment device 300. In someembodiments, media guidance applications may be client-serverapplications where only a client application resides on the userequipment device, and server application resides on a remote server. Forexample, media guidance applications may be implemented partially as aclient application on control circuitry 304 of user equipment device 300and partially on a remote server as a server application (e.g., mediaguidance data source 418) running on control circuitry of the remoteserver. When executed by control circuitry of the remote server (such asmedia guidance data source 418), the media guidance application mayinstruct the control circuitry to generate the guidance applicationdisplays and transmit the generated displays to the user equipmentdevices. The server application may instruct the control circuitry ofthe media guidance data source 418 to transmit data for storage on theuser equipment. The client application may instruct control circuitry ofthe receiving user equipment to generate the guidance applicationdisplays.

Content and/or media guidance data delivered to user equipment devices402, 404, and 406 may be over-the-top (OTT) content. OTT contentdelivery allows Internet-enabled user devices, including any userequipment device described above, to receive content that is transferredover the Internet, including any content described above, in addition tocontent received over cable or satellite connections. OTT content isdelivered via an Internet connection provided by an Internet serviceprovider (ISP), but a third party distributes the content. The ISP maynot be responsible for the viewing abilities, copyrights, orredistribution of the content, and may only transfer IP packets providedby the OTT content provider. Examples of OTT content providers includeYOUTUBE, NETFLIX, and HULU, which provide audio and video via IPpackets. Youtube is a trademark owned by Google Inc., Netflix is atrademark owned by Netflix Inc., and Hulu is a trademark owned by Hulu,LLC. OTT content providers may additionally or alternatively providemedia guidance data described above. In addition to content and/or mediaguidance data, providers of OTT content can distribute media guidanceapplications (e.g., web-based applications or cloud-based applications),or the content can be displayed by media guidance applications stored onthe user equipment device.

Media guidance system 400 is intended to illustrate a number ofapproaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment devicesand sources of content and guidance data may communicate with each otherfor the purpose of accessing content and providing media guidance. Theembodiments described herein may be applied in any one or a subset ofthese approaches, or in a system employing other approaches fordelivering content and providing media guidance. The following fourapproaches provide specific illustrations of the generalized example ofFIG. 4.

In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with each otherwithin a home network. User equipment devices can communicate with eachother directly via short-range point-to-point communication schemesdescribed above, via indirect paths through a hub or other similardevice provided on a home network, or via communications network 414.Each of the multiple individuals in a single home may operate differentuser equipment devices on the home network. As a result, it may bedesirable for various media guidance information or settings to becommunicated between the different user equipment devices. For example,it may be desirable for users to maintain consistent media guidanceapplication settings on different user equipment devices within a homenetwork, as described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/179,410, filed Jul. 11, 2005. Different types ofuser equipment devices in a home network may also communicate with eachother to transmit content. For example, a user may transmit content fromuser computer equipment to a portable video player or portable musicplayer.

In a second approach, users may have multiple types of user equipment bywhich they access content and obtain media guidance. For example, someusers may have home networks that are accessed by in-home and mobiledevices. Users may control in-home devices via a media guidanceapplication implemented on a remote device. For example, users mayaccess an online media guidance application on a website via a personalcomputer at their office, or a mobile device such as a PDA orweb-enabled mobile telephone. The user may set various settings (e.g.,recordings, reminders, or other settings) on the online guidanceapplication to control the user's in-home equipment. The online guidemay control the user's equipment directly, or by communicating with amedia guidance application on the user's in-home equipment. Varioussystems and methods for user equipment devices communicating, where theuser equipment devices are in locations remote from each other, isdiscussed in, for example, Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,046,801, issuedOct. 25, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

In a third approach, users of user equipment devices inside and outsidea home can use their media guidance application to communicate directlywith content source 416 to access content. Specifically, within a home,users of user television equipment 402 and user computer equipment 404may access the media guidance application to navigate among and locatedesirable content. Users may also access the media guidance applicationoutside of the home using wireless user communications devices 406 tonavigate among and locate desirable content.

In a fourth approach, user equipment devices may operate in a cloudcomputing environment to access cloud services. In a cloud computingenvironment, various types of computing services for content sharing,storage or distribution (e.g., video sharing sites or social networkingsites) are provided by a collection of network-accessible computing andstorage resources, referred to as “the cloud.” For example, the cloudcan include a collection of server computing devices, which may belocated centrally or at distributed locations, that provide cloud-basedservices to various types of users and devices connected via a networksuch as the Internet via communications network 414. These cloudresources may include one or more content sources 416 and one or moremedia guidance data sources 418. In addition or in the alternative, theremote computing sites may include other user equipment devices, such asuser television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, and wirelessuser communications device 406. For example, the other user equipmentdevices may provide access to a stored copy of a video or a streamedvideo. In such embodiments, user equipment devices may operate in apeer-to-peer manner without communicating with a central server.

The cloud provides access to services, such as content storage, contentsharing, or social networking services, among other examples, as well asaccess to any content described above, for user equipment devices.Services can be provided in the cloud through cloud computing serviceproviders, or through other providers of online services. For example,the cloud-based services can include a content storage service, acontent sharing site, a social networking site, or other services viawhich user-sourced content is distributed for viewing by others onconnected devices. These cloud-based services may allow a user equipmentdevice to store content to the cloud and to receive content from thecloud rather than storing content locally and accessing locally-storedcontent.

A user may use various content capture devices, such as camcorders,digital cameras with video mode, audio recorders, mobile phones, andhandheld computing devices, to record content. The user can uploadcontent to a content storage service on the cloud either directly, forexample, from user computer equipment 404 or wireless usercommunications device 406 having content capture feature. Alternatively,the user can first transfer the content to a user equipment device, suchas user computer equipment 404. The user equipment device storing thecontent uploads the content to the cloud using a data transmissionservice on communications network 414. In some embodiments, the userequipment device itself is a cloud resource, and other user equipmentdevices can access the content directly from the user equipment deviceon which the user stored the content.

Cloud resources may be accessed by a user equipment device using, forexample, a web browser, a media guidance application, a desktopapplication, a mobile application, and/or any combination of accessapplications of the same. The user equipment device may be a cloudclient that relies on cloud computing for application delivery, or theuser equipment device may have some functionality without access tocloud resources. For example, some applications running on the userequipment device may be cloud applications, i.e., applications deliveredas a service over the Internet, while other applications may be storedand run on the user equipment device. In some embodiments, a user devicemay receive content from multiple cloud resources simultaneously. Forexample, a user device can stream audio from one cloud resource whiledownloading content from a second cloud resource. Or a user device candownload content from multiple cloud resources for more efficientdownloading. In some embodiments, user equipment devices can use cloudresources for processing operations such as the processing operationsperformed by processing circuitry described in relation to FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative example of screens used to generate fordisplay recommendations to a user. Display screen 500 presents a display502 of program listings and an alert 504 which indicates availability ofrecommended content. For example, in display screen 500, the mediaguidance application has determined that media content is available on asecond device based on a characteristic of media content consumed by auser on a first device. For example, the media guidance application(e.g., via control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3)) may determine that mediacontent available on the second device has similar characteristics tomedia content recently consumed on a first device. As a result, themedia guidance application generated for display alert 504. Alert 504may be selectable by the user. When the user selects alert 504, themedia guidance application may present to the user display 550.

Alternatively or additionally, the media guidance application mayautomatically, without user input, generate for display listings formedia content available on the second device that has similarcharacteristics to media content recently consumed on a first device.For example, in response to a user powering on the second device, themedia guidance application may cause media listings to appear (or beginplayback of a media asset) on a display (e.g., display 312 (FIG. 3)) onthe second device.

Display 550 may present to the user one or more media listings 552 ofmedia assets available on the second device based on the characteristicof media content consumed by the user on the first device. The presentedmedia listings 552 may include information about the media asset (e.g.,title, length, etc.). The presented media listings 552 may also beuser-selectable. When the user selects one of the media listings 552,the user may be given more information about the media asset.Additionally or alternatively, the user may be given an option to startconsuming the media asset and/or an option to instruct the mediaguidance application to never recommend the selected media asset again.

Furthermore, media listings 552 may represent media content that wasavailable on the first device or may represent media content that wasnot available on the first device. For example, media listings 552 mayrepresent media content that is formatted for display on the seconddevice. For example, if the second device has only standard definitionresolution, media listing 552 may represent standard definition versionof media content available in high definition on the first device. Inanother example, if the second device has only audio outputcapabilities, media listing 552 may represent audio-only versions ofmedia content available in audio and video on the first device. In yetanother example, if the second device has access to onlynon-subscription media content, media listing 552 may represent onlynon-subscription media content similar to the subscription media contentavailable on the first device.

In some embodiments, the graphic properties of alert 504 may vary basedon the media content that is the subject of the alert. For example, thecolor of alert 504 may represent how popular the recommended content ison social media sites. The color red may indicate that the recommendedmedia content is very popular and blue may indicate that the recommendedmedia content is not very popular. Alert 504 may be of a number of othercolors that may indicate different degrees of popularity of therecommended media content. The color of alert 504 may also represent anumber of media assets available. For example, red may indicate ten ormore media assets available, green may represent availability of atleast five recommended assets but no more than ten, and blue mayrepresent one to four recommended media assets available. Additionallyor alternatively, alert 504 may have a number inside of the circle thatmay represent a number of recommended media assets available.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in recommendingcontent on a second device based on content consumed by a user on afirst device. It should be noted that process 600 or any step thereofcould be performed on, or provided by, any of the devices shown in FIGS.3-4. For example, process 600 may be executed by control circuitry 304(FIG. 3) as instructed by a media guidance application implemented onuser equipment 402, 404, and/or 406 (FIG. 4) in order to distributecontrol of media guidance application operations for a target deviceamong multiple user devices. In addition, one or more steps of process600 may be incorporated into or combined with one or more steps of anyother process or embodiment (e.g., process 700 (FIG. 7)).

At step 602, a media guidance application determines (e.g., via controlcircuitry 304 (FIG. 3)) that a user has stopped using a first device andis using a second device. For example, as discussed above the mediaguidance application may determine that the user has stopped using thefirst device and is using the second device by determining that the userhas moved from a location that is associated with a first device to alocation associated with the second device. For example, the firstdevice may be a set-top box and the second device may be a carentertainment system. Both the first device and the second device mayhave components of user device 300 (FIG. 3). The user may associate thefirst device with the user's home via user input interface 310 (FIG. 3)available on the first device. The user may further associate the seconddevice with the user's car via user input interface 310 (FIG. 3)available on the second device. The media guidance application maydetermine via processing circuitry 306 (FIG. 3) that the user stoppedusing the first device and started using the second device. For example,when the user drives her car, the media guidance application may (e.g.,via a global positioning module accessible by control circuitry 304(FIG. 3)) automatically determine that the user is no longer at home.

As described above the media guidance application may also determine(e.g., via control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3)) that the user has stoppedusing a first device and is using the second device by detecting thatthe user stopped interacting with the first device and is interactingwith the second device. Both the first and second device may havecomponents of device 300 (FIG. 3). The media guidance application maydetect, via user input interface 310 (FIG. 3), user input into the firstand second devices. The media guidance application may further start atimer via processing circuitry 306 (FIG. 3) to keep track of the amountof time passed since each input. When the timer reaches a thresholdvalue which can be stored in storage 308, the media guidance applicationmay determine that the user has stopped using the first device. Afterthe threshold value is reached on the first device, the media guidanceapplication may start monitoring the second device for user input. Onceuser input is detected on the second device, the media guidanceapplication may determine that the user is using the second device.

In yet another example, the user may indicate to the media guidanceapplication, via user input interface 310 (FIG. 3), that he is about tostop using the first device. The media guidance application may provideto the user a selectable indication, via display 312 (FIG. 3), that whenselected by the user, via user input interface 310 (FIG. 3), indicatesthat the user is about to stop using the first device. Once the userselects the indication via user input interface 310 (FIG. 3), the mediaguidance application may present to the user via display 312 (FIG. 3)one or more devices associated with the user, for the user to select asthe second device.

In step 604, in response to determining that the user has stopped usingthe first device and is using the second device, the media guidanceapplication retrieves (e.g., via control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3)) athreshold length of time from memory (e.g., storage 308 (FIG. 3) and/orany location accessible via communications network 414 (FIG. 4)). Forexample, the media guidance application may be active on a device suchas device 300 (FIG. 3). The threshold length of time may be retrievedfrom RAM which may be part of storage 308 (FIG. 3). Alternatively oradditionally, the threshold length of time may be retrieved from anyother component of storage 308 (e.g., ROM, Hard Disk, Removable Disk,etc.) or from any location accessible via communications network 414(FIG. 4)).

In step 606, the media guidance application determines (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 304 (FIG. 3)) a period of time beginning at a point intime when the user began using the second device and extending backwardsfor the threshold length of time. For example, the media guidanceapplication may retrieve via processing circuitry 306 (FIG. 3) fromstorage 308 (FIG. 3) the current time. The media guidance applicationmay then, via processing circuitry 306 (FIG. 3), calculate a time periodbased on the threshold length of time retrieved via circuitry 306 (FIG.3) and the current time. The time period may further be stored instorage 308 (FIG. 3) as a combination of two values (e.g., start timeand end time).

In step 608, the media guidance application determines (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 304 (FIG. 3)) first media content consumed by the useron the first device during the period of time. For example, the mediaguidance application may request, via communications network 414 fromthe first device, media content identifiers for media content consumedby the user on the first device during the period of time on the firstdevice. The request may include a start time and an end time thatcontent identifiers are needed for. The identifiers may includeinformation needed to determine a characteristic of the media content.Alternatively or additionally, the media guidance application on thefirst device may keep track, via processing circuitry 306 (FIG. 3), ofinformation about media content the user is consuming on the firstdevice and the time interval for the consummation. That information mayinclude characteristics of the media content. The media guidanceapplication may transmit the information over communications network 414(FIG. 4) to media guidance data source 418, where that information maybe stored in a database. When the media guidance application needs todetermine what content the user has consumed during the time period, themedia guidance application may request that information from mediaguidance data source 418 (FIG. 4) over a communications network 414(FIG. 4).

In step 610, the media guidance application determines (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 304 (FIG. 3)) a characteristic of the first mediacontent. The media guidance application may receive from the firstdevice and/or media guidance data source 418 over communications network414, data associated with media content that the user consumed on thefirst device during the time period. The media guidance application maycross-reference, via processing circuitry 306 (FIG. 3), parts of themedia content consumed by the user in order to determine if that contenthas at least one characteristic associated with it. If all of the mediacontent consumed by the user does not share one characteristic, themedia guidance application may, as described above, determine, viaprocessing circuitry 306 (FIG. 3), a characteristic of a subset of theconsumed media content. The media guidance application may determinemultiple characteristics of the consumed media content based on multiplesubsets.

In step 612, the media guidance application (e.g., via control circuitry304 (FIG. 3)) recommends, based on the characteristic, second mediacontent for consumption on the second device. For example, the mediaguidance application may be activated on, or send instructions to, thesecond device. The media guidance application may retrieve, from storage308 (FIG. 3), a characteristic of the media content consumed on thefirst device. The media guidance application may then search, usingcontrol circuitry 306 (FIG. 3), media content on the second device thatmatches the characteristic. For example, the second device may haveprogram listings stored in storage 308 (FIG. 3) for media contentavailable on the device. The media guidance application may search mediacontent listings of the second device for the characteristic. If thecharacteristic is a name of an actor, the media guidance application maydo a textual comparison, via processing circuitry 306 (FIG. 3), betweenmedia content listings data and the actor's name. If any matches arefound, the media guidance application may recommend the media contentassociated with matched media content listings to the user via display312 (FIG. 3).

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIG. 6 may be usedwith any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the steps anddescriptions described in relation to FIG. 6 may be done in alternativeorders or in parallel to further the purposes of this disclosure. Forexample, each of these steps may be performed in any order or inparallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce lag or increase thespeed of the system or method. Furthermore, it should be noted that anyof the devices or equipment discussed in relation to FIGS. 3-4 could beused to perform one or more of the steps in FIG. 6.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in determining thata user stopped using a first device and is using a second device. Itshould be noted that process 700 or any step thereof could be performedon, or provided by, any of the devices shown in FIGS. 3-4. For example,process 700 may be executed by control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3) asinstructed by a media guidance application implemented on user equipment402, 404, and/or 406 (FIG. 4) in order to distribute control of mediaguidance application operations for a target device among multiple userdevices. In addition, one or more steps of process 700 may beincorporated into or combined with one or more steps of any otherprocess or embodiment (e.g., process 600 (FIG. 6)).

At step 702, the media guidance application monitors (e.g., via controlcircuitry 304 (FIG. 3)) a first device for user input. For example, themedia guidance application may be active on a set-top box which may havecomponents of device 300 (FIG. 3). The user may be interacting with theset-top box via a remote control. The remote control may be sending IRsignals to user input interface 310 (FIG. 3). An example of a user inputmay be the user, via a remote control, tuning the set-top box to aspecific channel.

At step 704, the media guidance application detects, via controlcircuitry 304 (FIG. 3), whether a user input has been detected on thefirst device. If user input has not been detected, the media guidanceapplication continues to monitor the first device for user input. If themedia guidance application detects user input, the process moves to step706.

At step 706, the media guidance application stores, in memory, a time atwhich user input was first detected on the first device. The stored timemay represent a time when the user first started using the first deviceand may be stored as (“Start Time”). For example, if the media guidanceapplication determines, via control circuitry 306 (FIG. 3), that userinput was detected, it may retrieve the current time from storage 308(FIG. 3). The media guidance application may then store the retrievedtime in another section of storage 308 (FIG. 3) as Start Time. The mediaguidance application may also store the retrieved time again as (“LastInput Time”). The media guidance application may also start a timer, viacontrol circuitry 306 (FIG. 3), in order to keep track of the timepassed after user input.

At step 708, the media guidance application monitors (e.g., via controlcircuitry 304 (FIG. 3)) the first device for further user input. Themedia guidance application may monitor the first device for further userinput in the same manner as it monitors it in step 702. However, if thefirst device is an electronic tablet, the user may not be interactingwith it via a remote control. The user may be utilizing a touchinterface of an electronic tablet for user input. The touch interfacemay be sending user interactions with the device to a user inputinterface 310 (FIG. 3). User input interface 310 (FIG. 3) may beinterpreting user input and sending user input as user commands toprocessing circuitry 306 (FIG. 3). Processing circuitry 306 (FIG. 3) maythen be executing the commands.

At step 710, the media guidance application determines (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 304 (FIG. 3)) whether further user input has beendetected on the first device. If the media guidance applicationdetermines, via control circuitry 306 (FIG. 3), that further input intouser input interface 310 (FIG. 3) was detected, it may update the LastInput Time by retrieving the current time from storage 308 (FIG. 3), andstoring the retrieved time again in storage 308 (FIG. 3) as Last InputTime. The media guidance application may also stop, reset and restartthe counter started in step 708. The media guidance application may thencontinue monitoring the first device for further user input. If furtheruser input is not detected on the first device, the media guidanceapplication continues to step 712.

In step 712, the media guidance application determines (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 304 (FIG. 3)) whether a threshold time without userinput has been reached. The threshold time without user input may bedetermined beforehand and stored in storage 308 (FIG. 3). Initially, thethreshold time may be set to an arbitrary number, however, as the mediaguidance application executes process 700 repeatedly, the threshold timemay be adjusted based on threshold times of earlier executed processes700. The media guidance application may compare, via processingcircuitry 306 (FIG. 3), the stored threshold time since last user inputwith the time elapsed on the timer of steps 708 and 710. If thethreshold time has not been reached, the media guidance application willcontinue monitoring the first device for further user input (step 708).If the threshold time has been reached, then process 700 will move tostep 714.

In step 714, the media guidance application stores current time inmemory (e.g., storage 308 (FIG. 3) and/or any location accessible viacommunications network 414 (FIG. 4)). The media guidance application mayretrieve current time in the same manner as in step 706 and store it instorage 308 (FIG. 3) as (“End Time”) to signify that the user stoppedusing the first device.

In step 716, the media guidance application monitors (e.g., via controlcircuitry 304 (FIG. 3)) the second device for user input. The mediaguidance application may monitor the second device for user input in thesame manner as it monitors the first device in steps 702 and 708. Inanother example, if the second device is a car entertainment system,user input may be the user starting the car and as a result turning onthe car entertainment system. Turning on the car may be considered userinput in the context of the car entertainment system.

In step 718, the media guidance application determines (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 304 (FIG. 3)) whether user input has been detected onthe second device. The media guidance application may detect user inputon the second device in the same manner as it detects user input on thefirst device in steps 704 and 710. Additionally or alternatively, themedia guidance application may detect, via a microphone, the user'svoice commands. The microphone may transmit the user's voice commands touser input interface 310 (FIG. 3). User input interface 310 (FIG. 3) mayinterpret the user's voice commands and transmit them to processingcircuitry 306 (FIG. 3) for execution. If user input is not detected onthe second device, the media guidance application may continuemonitoring the second device for user input. Alternatively oradditionally, the media guidance application may monitor multipledevices for user input. The device that receives user input at step 718may be labelled as the second device.

At step 720, the media guidance application transmits (e.g., via controlcircuitry 304 (FIG. 3)) to the second device Start Time and End Time.For example, the media guidance application may be active on the firstdevice and the second device. When user input on the second device isdetected, the media guidance application may transmit from the firstdevice, via communications network 414 (FIG. 4), a request for a StartTime and End Time stored in storage 308 (FIG. 3) of the first device.The media guidance application may then receive the Start Time and EndTime from the first device.

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIG. 7 may be usedwith any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the steps anddescriptions described in relation to FIG. 7 may be done in alternativeorders or in parallel to further the purposes of this disclosure. Forexample, each of these steps may be performed in any order or inparallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce lag or increase thespeed of the system or method. Furthermore, it should be noted that anyof the devices or equipment discussed in relation to FIGS. 3-4 could beused to perform one or more of the steps in FIG. 7.

The above-described embodiments of the present disclosure are presentedfor purposes of illustration and not of limitation, and the presentdisclosure is limited only by the claims that follow. Furthermore, itshould be noted that the features and limitations described in any oneembodiment may be applied to any other embodiment herein, and flowchartsor examples relating to one embodiment may be combined with any otherembodiment in a suitable manner, done in different orders, or done inparallel. In addition, the systems and methods described herein may beperformed in real time. It should also be noted, the systems and/ormethods described above may be applied to, or used in accordance with,other systems and/or methods.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for providing content recommendationsbased on recent activity, the method comprising: determining that a userhas stopped using a first device and is using a second device; inresponse to determining that the user has stopped using the first deviceand is using the second device, retrieving a period of time thatcorresponds to an amount of time the user continuously used the firstdevice immediately before using the second device; transmitting a firstrequest for a plurality of media assets that the user consumed on thefirst device during the period of time; receiving, in response to thefirst request, a plurality of media asset identifiers corresponding tomedia assets that the user has consumed during the period of time;transmitting a second request for metadata associated with the pluralityof media asset identifiers corresponding to the media assets that theuser has consumed during the period of time; determining, based on themetadata, a plurality characteristics, wherein each of the plurality ofcharacteristics is associated with a media asset of the plurality ofmedia assets that the user has consumed during the period of time;calculating, for each of the plurality of characteristics, a number ofmedia assets from the plurality of media assets that match a respectivecharacteristic of the plurality of characteristics; determining, basedon the calculating, a characteristic that is associated with a greatestnumber of media assets of the plurality of media assets that the userconsumed on the first device during the period of time that the usercontinuously used the first device immediately before using the seconddevice; and recommending, based on the characteristic, media content forconsumption on the second device.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: storing a list of devices associated with the user; andrecommending, based on the characteristic, the media content forconsumption on each device in the list of devices.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein determining that the user has stopped using the firstdevice and is using the second device comprises detecting that the userhas moved from a first location that is associated with the first deviceto a second location that is associated with the second device.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein determining that the user has stopped usingthe first device and is using the second device comprises detecting thatthe user has stopped interacting with the first device and isinteracting with the second device.
 5. The method of claim 1, whereinthe first media content comprises video content and the second mediacontent consists of audio content.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein thecharacteristic of the first media content consists of at least one of agenre, subject matter, title, type, actor, character, and location. 7.The method of claim 1, further comprising: identifying characteristicsassociated with available media content; and filtering the availablemedia content based on whether the available media content is associatedwith the characteristic to determine the media content.
 8. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising generating an alert that indicates to theuser that the media content is available on the second device.
 9. Asystem for providing content recommendations based on recent activity,the system comprising: control circuitry configured to: determine that auser has stopped using a first device and is using a second device; inresponse to determining that the user has stopped using the first deviceand is using the second device, retrieve a period of time thatcorresponds to an amount of time the user continuously used the firstdevice immediately before using the second device; transmit a firstrequest for a plurality of media assets that the user consumed on thefirst device during the period of time; receive, in response to thefirst request, a plurality of media asset identifiers corresponding tomedia assets that the user has consumed during the period of time;transmit a second request for metadata associated with the plurality ofmedia asset identifiers corresponding to the media assets that the userhas consumed during the period of time; determine, based on themetadata, a plurality characteristics associated with the plurality ofmedia assets, wherein each of the plurality of characteristics isassociated with a media asset of the plurality of media assets that theuser has consumed during the period of time; calculate, for each of theplurality of characteristics, a number of media assets from theplurality of media assets that match a respective characteristic of theplurality of characteristics; determine, based on the calculating, acharacteristic that is associated with a greatest number of media assetsof the plurality of media assets that the user consumed on the firstdevice during the period of time that the user continuously used thefirst device immediately before using the second device; and recommend,based on the characteristic, media content for consumption on the seconddevice.
 10. The system of claim 9, further comprising: storage circuitryconfigured to store a list of devices associated with the user; andcontrol circuitry configured to: recommend, based on the characteristic,the media content for consumption on each device in the list of devices.11. The system of claim 9, wherein the control circuitry configured todetermine that the user has stopped using the first device and is usingthe second device is further configured to detect that the user hasmoved from a first location that is associated with the first device toa second location that is associated with the second device.
 12. Thesystem of claim 9, wherein the control circuitry configured to determinethat the user has stopped using the first device and is using the seconddevice is further configured to detect that the user has stoppedinteracting with the first device and is interacting with the seconddevice.
 13. The system of claim 9, wherein the first media contentcomprises video content and the second media content consists of audiocontent.
 14. The system of claim 9, wherein the characteristic of thefirst media content consists of at least one of a genre, subject matter,title, type, actor, character, and location.
 15. The system of claim 9,wherein the control circuitry is further configured to: identifycharacteristics associated with available media content; and filter theavailable media content based on whether the available media content isassociated with the characteristic to determine the media content. 16.The system of claim 9, wherein the control circuitry is furtherconfigured to generate an alert that indicates to the user that themedia content is available on the second device.